Ever since Blackberry’s unsuccessful Playbook, the tech company’s stock has gradually fell. After its announcement that it has almost one billion dollars’ worth of unsold phone inventory and that the company will lay off 40% of its workers, its stocks plummeted more. Blackberry has been behind the world of smartphones and tablets as Samsung and Apple made significant advancements in their technology, such as the introduction of the touchscreen. One of Blackberry’s shortcomings is their inability to adapt to future trends.

The SWOT analysis can provide an overview of a company’s internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and its external factors (opportunities and threats). It is useful for analyzing ways of improvements within business and helps study the market. Blackberry overlooked its threats – competition from Apple and Samsung – who have developed many substitute products as well as the opportunity of a change of consumer preferences towards the touchscreen.

Perhaps Blackberry’s only hope is to take the company private. As of now, the leading candidate is Prem Watsa from Fairfax Financial Holdings – an offer of $4.7 billion ($9 per share). However, Blackberry is ready to entertain offers from potential bidders such as IBM and Microsoft.

Works Cited
The economist – http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/09/blackberry
Image #1 (Phone comparison) – http://img.digitaltrends.com/image/galbbios-620×480.jpg
Image #2 (SWOT) – http://cowanglobal.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/swot_img2.gif